Tag Archives: lasagne

Homemade vegetable lasagne, just as it should be; hot, oozy and messy, with garden peas & chunky chips!

I don’t have the inclination to let it rest long enough for the layers to firm up properly. That’s just because I’m greedy and by the time it comes out of the oven I want to just put my face in the lasagne pan. This is a vegetable lasagne without any weird mycro-protein-whatever-textured-stuff… just vegetables & tomatoes, with a homemade white sauce (made with lactofree milk & cheese, and gluten free flour). I have been known to make my own pasta sheets for this but tonight I used sainsburys gluten free pasta sheets (dry).

Ingredients:

for the vegetables…

2 small yellow onions, finely chopped

1 small red pepper, finely chopped

2 good sized courgettes, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced / finely chopped

500g carton of tomato passata (sieved tomatoes)

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp basil

1/4 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp mustard powder

for the sauce:

20g plain gluten free flour

200ml stock (COLD!)

200ml lactofree milk

knob of ‘butter’ (or dairy free spread)

100g grated lactofree cheese

black pepper & parsley to taste

also…

250g dry lasagne sheets

100g grated lactofree cheese for the top

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and start with the vegetables…

in a large pan, heat the onion and pepper in a little oil until they start to soften

add the courgette and heat for around 5 minutes until it softens

add the garlic, stir through, and then add the passata

stir in the basil, mustard and oregano, and add the whole bay leaf

bring this to a simmer and heat for 10 or 15 minutes before turning off the heat

Meanwhile sort the cheese sauce…

add a little milk to the flour and whisk until there are no lumps, then add the rest of the milk

mix in the stock, and pour it all into a cold saucepan

add the butter to the pan, and heat very gently, whisking, until it comes to a simmer

stir in the cheese before adding the parsley and black pepper to taste

keep it on a gentle heat, and keep an eye on it while you begin to assemble the lasagne

To layer the lasagne…

oil / grease a lasagne pan (24x28cm works well) and cover the bottom with the pasta sheets

onto that add a layer of vegetables, then a little cheese sauce on top of that

repeat the pasta – vegetables – cheese sauce layering until you come to your last sheets of pasta

top the final sheets of pasta with a thick layer of cheese sauce, then sprinkle over the grated cheese

pop this in the oven for 30 minutes

Once it’s cooked and the cheese is golden brown, take it out of the oven, and ideally let it rest for 20 minutes – this will allow the layers to firm up and it will be easier to cut and serve… me, I don’t have the patience for that, but if you’re cooking for guests you might want to.

This is one of those dishes that’s so tasty and satisfying, it really doesn’t need meat (or ‘fake’ soya-protein-pretend-meat). This recipe might come in useful to any omnivores looking to give up meat for lent! :)